Sunday, December 13, 2009

Hands on Small Business

I just wanted to share some of the amazing outcomes of these classes with you:

The first class was at the Kickstart coffee and scooter shop in the funky Short North district of my city. While I was setting up shop and getting ready to meet all of the cool new pals I saw this chick sitting near me and I made some small talk with her. She looked to be studying and I was most likely annoying her. But I wasn't annoying her. She was intrigued.Sunny joined us and we found out that she was a PhD candidate at OSU and her boyfriend had just unexpectedly died. She was heartbroken and trying to find the time and energy to help continue a legacy of scholarships that he had started for students who needed financial assistance in following their dreams.Heart. Grab.And just like that we got her involved in social media.One night.Over candy bars and coffee and a bunch of women.Hello life.I love it.

And all the sessions went magical like this. We found one another at so many different levels of knowledge. Some just starting out on the social media journey and some advanced and seeking more and more. We leaned on each other and right from the start of each class I encouraged all of us to take the floor and share knowledge. It worked. We went through the information and little light bulbs went off all over the rooms at intervals.

The excitement was palpable for some.

The resistance to platforms like twitter waned and we all looked forward to the future-

to the NOW of business.

We shook out 2.0 selves out and stretched.

At Wild Goose we were fascinated by each other and all of the gifts that were presented at the table and at Panera/WhollyCraft we laughed and laughed together and found help with issues we were struggling with and even some business bartering.Women were hugging each other at the end of sessions and dates were being planned and networking just happened naturally. I can't forget the mentoring and friendships and connections galore over wine at the fabulous HOUSE WINE!

The locations were perfect and the people just kept coming in the doors and when they turned to leave- they had a bit more skip their step. The economic landscape is a bit tricky right now for small business and this course was really helpful in providing some FREE information and FREE applications and platforms.

It rocked.It was kinda beautiful.I felt empowered and helpful and it was a great place for me to share.I would be honored to do more work like this.Work that truly matters.That has reach.

In January, Amie Adams will be leading two more virtual HOSB sessions.So no matter where you're located, you can catch HOSB LIVE on your computer!